Last month, Kenya Airways launched its first nonstop flight between New York and Nairobi. The route delivers travelers to the dramatic wildlife and breathtaking scenery of East Africa in just 15 hours (six hours quicker than previous flights). And several new safari lodges around the region await them.
Just an hour’s flight from Nairobi is Maasai Mara National Reserve, where the 20-year-old andBeyond Bateleur Camp revealed an elegant overhaul earlier this year. Upgrades include new tents with soaking tubs and al fresco showers, along with two swimming pools and a bar that serves Kenyan coffee by day and gin cocktails by night.
Luxury safari outfit andBeyond is also at work on its brand-new Tengile River Lodge, with nine raised suites slated to open Dec. 1 in South Africa’s Sabi Sand National Park. Also in Sabi Sand is billionaire Richard Branson’s own Ulusaba Private Game Reserve, which in June unveiled a decadent, 2,000-square-foot Safari Suite with its own walled garden and plunge pool.
Another hot spot for wildlife-spotting, Tanzania, is home to Rubondo Island, known for its wild chimpanzees. Rubondo’s only accommodation is operated by swanky outfitter Asilia, which early next year will open four treehouses for guests to sleep in the canopy alongside the primates.
Although Rwanda is best known for its gorilla population, it is also home to other fabulous fauna. Alongside the hippos, crocodiles and black rhinos in Akagera National Park, a six-tented camp called Magashi, from tour operator Wilderness Safaris, the Rwanda Development Board and conservation group African Parks, is under construction for a year-end debut. And the just-opened One&Only Nyungwe House abuts Nyungwe National Park, home to 20 percent of the apes in Africa and its largest mountain rainforest.
Meanwhile, in Botswana’s Chobe National Park, the Belmond Savute Elephant Lodge reopened on June 1. After a renovation and redesign, its 12 tented rooms operate almost entirely off solar power. Earlier this year, Volcanoes Safaris’ Bwindi Lodge in Uganda — located in the gorilla-filled Bwindi Impenetrable Forest — completed a full renovation of its eight bandas (guest rooms) and opened a forest spa.
